


garden

by rxginamills



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, and boom flowers start to bloom on riley, and one night when they're having a sleepover maya just caresses her, and the flowers are how she realizes that riley is her soulmate, as more than friends u know, i don't know where this is going i'm just so in love with rilaya, it's not the first time they meet it's just when maya realizes that she loves riley, maya n riley are like really soft as always, soulmate au where flowers bloom on your soulmate's skin when you touch them, this soulmate au probably doesn't even work i just love the idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-25 01:36:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17111978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rxginamills/pseuds/rxginamills
Summary: Maya brushed Riley's shoulder with her fingertips as she slept, and decided there and then that sunflowers were her favorites.





	garden

Maya grinned at her memories.

She grinned when Farkle sprinted from behind the counter at Topanga's and took Smackle's hand, and lilacs began blooming on the length of her arm. She blushed, her face going as red as a tomato, and Farkle was smiling so wide it looked like his jaw would stay that way permanently. They showed up to school the next day with Smackle's temporary flower show still on, and there was nothing or nobody who could've thwarted their happiness. 

Maya laughed, too, when Zay and Lucas were locked in a playful fight and Zay tugged on Lucas' hair, causing buttercups to start flourishing from the top of his head. Zay noticed the flowers before Lucas did, and pushed him to the nearest mirror to examine himself. At first Lucas was taken aback by the yellow buds sprouting through his hair but then he looked at Zay who had a sheepish grin on his face and hearts in his eyes, and knew that having buttercups on his head for a day or two wouldn't be so bad. 

Maya hummed to herself thoughtfully, because not everyone was like Farkle and Smackle or Lucas and Zay. There were people like Cory and Topanga, who were known to be together since the very beginning. They had been playing together on the playground and suddenly a red rose had sprouted from the tip of Cory’s nose, and Amy Matthews had smiled knowingly while Rhiannon Lawrence had gasped in surprise.

Being toddlers who were barely able to speak, Cory and Topanga had of course had no idea that the rose growing temporarily from Cory meant that they were soulmates. Both kids had just found the incident terribly funny and started playing with the rose and touching it curiously. It disappeared soon like the flowers always did, but they still remembered it years later when they were staring into each other’s eyes and saying their wedding vows.

 

* * *

 

Maya went home and found her mother where she was every day at that time: watering beautiful, red poppies that stood on the windowsill in their apartment. Her blonde curls bounced on her shoulders as she turned to look at the person who arrived, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her daughter. Katy Hunter, née Clutterbucket, was a vision of beauty and the definition of strength. She had taken care of little Maya when her father abandoned them both, worked at a job that was neither her passion nor that pleasant in general to keep her fed and safe and sacrificed so much of what she had to give Maya more. Maya had decided a long time ago that she would someday repay her mother and give her everything, just like Katy had given her. 

Maya was 16 when Katy decided that she was old enough to know that not a single flower ever grew on Katy's skin when she was with Kermit, and his body remained equally blank. It was more like any possible flowers died whenever they touched. Katy had been secretly heartbroken by this at the time, because she was utterly convinced that Kermit was the man she was destined to be with. It was proven untrue when years later Shawn Hunter lowered himself onto one knee in front of her and proposed to her, and Katy launched herself into his arms to kiss him. She was joyfully surprised to notice flaming red poppies spreading across Shawn's collarbones, and it was the very reason those same plants were now in their home. 

Maya's heart felt warm at the memory, and she opened her sketchbook. The pages were filled with countless doodles of different flowers: daffodils, daisies, bluebells, marigolds and many others. She was deeply fascinated by the way their world worked; that there was a perfect person out there for everyone, and her person was somewhere too, and together they would grow the most beautiful flowers. Maya was desperate to find out what kind they would be, and perhaps more importantly who her person was. 

She turned the page and brushed her fingers over the drawing that appeared. It was no flower, though the girl might as well have been as beautiful as one. It was her best friend, her Riley, sweet and innocent and radiant Riley who had envisioned everything a thousand times. One day she would meet her person, her soulmate, and it would just click. They would be just like Riley's parents, meant to be together from the very first sight, and flowers growing from Riley's tummy would replace the butterflies. She had it all planned out for herself, and more than anything Maya hoped that it would work out the way she wanted.

 

* * *

 

Every day that Maya drew, her pencil strokes took the form of a girl, and every day it resembled Riley more and more. It did not go unnoticed by her friends, because they knew her heart almost as well as Riley did. Zay peeked over Maya's shoulder one day at school and raised a brow.

"Hey, that looks kinda like Riley." 

Maya spun her whole sketchbook around at a 180 degree angle and then laid it back down, "Does it? I can't really tell."

"Sure you can," Zay chuckled, "You've been drawing her _a lot_ lately. Any idea why?"

"She inspires me."

"And those flowers?" Zay pointed at all the marigolds Maya had drawn around Riley's face, "Are they inspired by her too?"

Maya frowned for a moment and then took a step back from her sketchbook. She took a good look of the whole page, not just the flowers or just Riley or just the other random doodles the page was filled with. She saw the entire picture, and her stomach lurched uncomfortably. Maya shut the sketchbook abruptly.

"No," she said quietly, "No, I don't think so."

She gathered her colored and regular pencils and left Zay standing there on his own, knowing that she had lied to him. She didn't exactly know why she lied to Zay, because he was her friend after all, and a loyal one at that. Zay could and would keep a secret if asked, but then again, there was no secret. Zay knew everything he needed to know; it was more like Maya was trying to keep herself from finding out something that might have been better unsaid. 

 

* * *

 

Weeks went by without any strange occurrences and then one morning Chai passed Maya and Riley in the hallway, holding hands with a girl who had little gardenias covering her wrists and palms, and Maya felt a lump in her throat. Riley tapped her on the shoulder lightly, feeling equally as confused. 

"Chai… likes girls?" Riley breathed. 

"It would appear so," Maya said gently, something about the fact comforting her, "Does that bother you?"

"No, of course not, Peaches! Chai is free to love whoever she wants to love. I'm just surprised."

"I get that."

Maya watched Chai twirl this girl around twice and laugh with stars in her eyes. The girl's ebony complexion contrasted Chai's pale skin perfectly; they were like night and day, not only in appearance but personalities too, and yet they completed each other. Maya and Riley had never seen this girl before, but somehow it was like she had been there by Chai's side all along. They assumed that the girl was Chai's friend whose feelings had blossomed into something more, and Maya's throat felt dry as she made her way to algebra class. 

Maya expanded her art beyond drawings, and began to take polaroid pictures of good moments to make memories. Somewhere in her scrapbook there was a picture of Farkle giving Smackle a piggyback ride, and the next page revealed a three-picture series about the moment when Zay initiated a food fight by throwing a scoop of ice cream in Lucas' face and then kissed him soundly on the mouth. One of Maya's personal favorites was the photo she had snapped secretly of her parents sleeping on the couch together, Katy's head tucked in the crook of Shawn's neck. 

Most of the pictures were still of Riley, and under each one Maya scribbled the name of a flower. Every time Riley posed for a picture she reminded Maya of a new flower and it was never the same flower twice. It was easily the most beautiful bouquet in the world. 

Finding out that Chai liked girls had not changed Riley's personality one bit. She was still Riley; bubbly and beautiful and far too kind for the world. It was her behavior that intrigued Maya, because it was not that much un-Riley-like, per se, but she was constantly playing with Maya's hair and holding her hand tenderly. They had done both of those things before, but the way Riley's eyes glimmered when she looked at Maya made them different, and for a few seconds she dared to imagine, dared to dream, dared to ask "what if", but then she took the thoughts and questions back and locked them away in a treasure chest deep in her heart, because it could never be. Not like that. 

(Riley's eyes had never glimmered like that before.)

 

* * *

 

Maya stared at the ceiling in Riley's room, creating different patterns with her eyes as she did. The room was silent and safe as if everything inside was automatically covered in a blanket of happiness. Time never passed in that bedroom, and all the joy created in there was eternal.

Riley was in a deep sleep, her face turned towards Maya. Her legs were atop the covers but she didn't seem cold or uncomfortable. Maya was too scared to even turn her head and look at Riley, not in fear of what she would see because she knew exactly what she'd face, but what she would do if she did. Riley was peaceful and stunning and Maya refused to even glance at her because then her feelings would end up ruining everything between them even as best friends.

Riley moved slightly and let out the smallest of sounds, and Maya lost whatever battle she was having with herself. She looked at Riley and smiled softly. The brunette always slept like that, undisturbed by the outside world, and it calmed Maya down remarkably.

She touched Riley's shoulder, gently and without any force in order to not wake her up. She drew her fingers back sharply and gasped soundlessly at the sight in front of her. 

A sunflower slowly made its way up Riley's shoulder and tangled around her upper arm. More sunflowers appeared on Riley's back, and bloomed all the way down her hips and legs. Maya felt the petals tickle her own hand, which was still laid comfortably on Riley's shoulder. The sunflowers spread from Riley to the blankets that were nestled between them, and soon after they were on the floor and on their bay window like they had grown legs of their own. Maya knew precisely what the sunflowers represented and almost burst into tears of joy at the realization that her soulmate had never been "out there somewhere", she had been right there next to her and now it was real and official and true. 

Maya grabbed her polaroid camera, snapped a picture of Riley and her sunflower field and dug through her bag to find her sharpie. She wrote the word "sunflower" under the picture and then put it away, knowing that from now on sunflowers were superior to all the other flowers she had loved in the past. 

Maya drifted to sleep with a smile on her face, and woke up like that too. The morning sun came in through the window in Riley's room and illuminated the whole space in a yellow color, caused by the sunflowers which were still surrounding Riley and Maya - soulmates. 

Riley opened her eyes and yawned. She noticed the sunflowers growing not only on her but everywhere around her too.

"Hey, I grew a flower." she said lazily. Maya chuckled.

"You grew a whole garden, honey." she answered and brushed Riley's palm with her fingertips. Riley gazed at Maya, and Maya gazed back, unable to break the stare (not that she ever wanted to).

"I knew you'd be my soulmate, Peaches." Riley mumbled, her eyes almost closing again. Maya pressed a tiny kiss on Riley's hand.

"Somehow I knew too." 

They were quiet. Everything about the two of them made sense: Maya loved Riley, of course she did, it was as obvious and essential and _normal_ as the Earth rotating around the Sun, and now she knew it. Both of them admired the flowers around them, and Riley proceeded to ask if they could stay in their garden forever. Maya would never deny her anything, so she said yes, because she wanted them to always remain that way. And so they did.


End file.
